Canadian rural broadband provider Barrett Xplore has netted US$10m in equity investment from private equity firm Catalyst Investors.
Barrett plans to use proceeds from the funding to further expand its broadband customer base as well as prepare its…
Canadian rural broadband provider Barrett Xplore has netted US$10m in equity investment from private equity firm Catalyst Investors.
Barrett plans to use proceeds from the funding to further expand its broadband customer base as well as prepare its network for the forthcoming launches of the ViaSat and Hughes Network Systems next generation Ka-band satellites.
Back in October 2009, Barrett signed a leasing contract with HNS worth more than US$100m. Under the terms of that agreement, Barrett committed to acquiring approximately 14 Gbps of capacity on HNS’ Jupiter satellite, which is due to be launched in the first quarter of 2012. Barrett already leases capacity from HNS’ Spaceway 3 satellite to serve certain rural areas.
The Canadian company followed this up in January 2010 by signing a similar leasing agreement with Loral Space & Communications in which it would purchase all the capacity that Loral will own on ViaSat’s forthcoming ViaSat-1. The contract is worth approximately C$262m in total, which will be paid in annual instalments over the 15-year life of the satellite.
ViaSat-1 is expected to be launched mid-2010.
Loral will also provide Barrett with the equipment and services required for the latter to offer satellite broadband services. In order to do so, Loral has contracted both ViaSat and Telesat Canada.
Commenting on the fundraising, Catalyst partner Chris Shipman, who will join Barrett’s Board of Directors, said: “The introduction of 4G wireless broadband services into the rural Canadian marketplace will be a game changer for many of the 2.4 million Canadian households currently overlooked by terrestrial offerings.” Over the past couple of years, Barrett has provided wireless broadband services to rural areas through unlicensed spectrum and pre-standard WiMAX equipment. The company plans to develop a 4G network to serve rural areas throughout Canada by 2012 via a network of approximately 1200 terrestrial towers with satellite providing coverage in the more remote areas.
